From Deseret News archives:
Shurtleff undergoes 11th leg surgery
Device that stabilized limb while it healed is removed
Shurtleff went in for the surgery on Tuesday at University Hospital where a contraption holding his leg in place so his broken bones could properly mend was finally removed.
"The Shackle is off!" Shurtleff wrote in an e-mail to staffers. "The Ilisarov frame came off without complication. Some bleeding from all the holes in my leg but it feels strong and the docs said they tried to move my leg while I was out and it felt sturdy to them. He just had me stand on it while leaning against him and it felt very strong!"
The attorney general was injured last year while practicing for a charity motorcycle ride to raise money for a memorial for slain police officers. He hit a patch of gravel and laid the Harley-Davidson on top of him, shattering his left leg and tearing the rotator cuff in his shoulder. Shurtleff said after the accident that his helmet likely saved his life.
Recovery was painful due to numerous surgeries and a pair of staph infections. At times, the attorney general appeared visibly in pain at public appearances but kept working even after office aides insisted he go home to rest. He cut back on campaigning for re-election.
The attorney general underwent an unusual surgery earlier this year to save his leg. After months of broken bones not healing, Shurtleff had his leg placed in metal halos with wires and pins being used to affix the bones to the rings. If the surgery didn't work, he told the Deseret News in August that his doctors had discussed amputating his leg.
"You think about that and you're like, 'OK,"' Shurtleff said at the time. "I don't want to lose my leg."
In his e-mail to aides and in a public posting on his Facebook page, Shurtleff issued a public thanks for support and prayers through his recovery.
"Again thanks for all your support, love, prayers, filling gaps and catching all my mistakes," he wrote. "I couldn't have made it through this without you!"
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
